Ceiling wiper for embedding tape and for removing excess mastic from wallboard joints



Sept. 24, 1963 R. G. AMES 3,104,410

CEILING WIPER FOR EMBEDDING TAPE AND FOR REMOVING EXCESS MASTIC FROMWALLBOARD JOINTS Filed Jan. 29, 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR.

ROBERT 6. AMES ATTORNEYS Sept. 24, 1963 R. G. AMES CEILING WIPER FOREMBEDDING TAPE AND FOR REMOVIN EXCESS MASTIC FROM WALLBOARD JOINTS 2Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Jan. 29, 1962 INVENTOR. ROBERT 6. AMES ATTORNEYS3,104,410 CEILING WEEK FDR EMBEDDING TAPE AND FOR REMOVENG EXCESS MASTICFROM WALLBOARD JOINTS Robert G. Ames, Hillsborough, Calif., assignor, bymesne assignments, to Ames Taping Tool Systems Manufacturing Co.,Harvey, 111., a corporation of Delaware Filed Jan. 29, 1962, Ser. No.16%,482 Claims. (Cl. -1043) The present invention relates toimprovements in a ceiling wiper for embedding tape and for removingexcess mastic from wallboard joints and it consists in the combinations,constructions and arrangement of parts hereinafter described andclaimed.

A broad knife can be used for removing excess mastic while embedding ajoint covering tape in mastic on a ceiling, but this necessitates theuse of scaffolding so that the operator can stand on it and reach theceiling. Moreover the broad knife will scrape excess mastic from thejoint, but the mastic has a tendency to slide along the scraper bladeand then drop onto the operators hand or face or onto the floor where itmust be removed before it sets. The blade .cannot hold any appreciablequantity of excess mastic it has scraped from the joint and thisnecessitates the operator to repeatedly stopping and cleaning the blade.

The principal object of my invention is to provide a ceiling wiper forembedding tape and for removing excess mastic from wallboard joints inwhich the handle is made hollow and constitutes a receptacle forreceiving excess mastic. A hopper is associated with the scraper bladeand will receive excess mastic scraped off by the blade and will deliverthe mastic to the interior of the handle for temporary storage. Thehandle can be of a desired length for holding the excess mastic and anarm is attached to the hollow handle for providing sufficient length tothe device for permitting an operator to stand on the floor and move theblade against the joint on the ceiling that is to be wiped down,removing excess mastic therefrom.

It is necessary to remove the excess mastic from the hollow handle and Itherefore mount a piston in the cylinder and connect a piston rodthereto. The arm that extends from the lower end of the barrel has apiston rod retaining member provided with an opening for re ceiving theouter end of the piston rod when the latter is extended from the barreland the piston is at the lower end of the barrel.

A modified form of the device omits the arm that extends beyond thelower end of the cylindrical barrel. The cylindrical barrel is madelonger and the piston rod is in two parts with a coil spring or otherpivotal connection between the parts permitting the outer part of thepiston rod to be swung into parallel position with the barrel and beclamped thereto when the piston is at the lower end of the barrel or atits starting position.

The device is simple in construction. The scraper blade is centered in ahopper so that mastic moving down either surface of the blade will bereceived in the hopper. The hopper in turn directs the mastic into theinterior of the cylindrical barrel.

Other objects and advantages will appear as the specification.continues. The novel features of the invention will be set forth in theappended claims.

Drawings For a better understanding of my invention, reference shouldbemade to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification,in which:

FIGURE 1 is a front elevation of the device;

FIGURE 2 is a longitudinal transverse section through rt te the deviceand is taken along the line 22 of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a section through the hopper and part of the cylindricalbarrel; these parts being inclined so as to incline the mastic-scrapingblade at the proper angle with respect to the joint mastic and tapebeing scraped and embedded;

FIGURE 4 is a front elevation of a modified form of the invention; and

FIGURE 5 is a longitudinal transverse section through the modified formand shows the two part piston rod with its two portions in alignmentwith each other and the piston moved into its extreme dischargeposition.

While I have shown only the preferred forms of my invention, it shouldbe understood that various changes, or modifications, may be made withinthe scope of the annexed claims without departing from the spiritthereof.

In the covering of wall board joints in the ceiling, the abutting edgesof two adjacent pieces of wall board forming the joint are covered witha layer of mastic and a strip of tape is embedded in the mastic. Thepresent tool is used for embedding the tape in the layer of mastic andfor smoothing it and removing any excess mastic.

Detailed Description In carrying out my invention 1 provide a ceilingwiper for removing excess mastic and for embed-ding the tape in themastic layer. This tool has a cylindrical barrel A adapted to retainmastic that has been scraped off from the joint. At the top of thecylindrical barrel I mount a hopper or receptacle B and this hopper hasa rear wall 1 that is in the shape of an inverted truncated triangle.The rear wall has integral side walls 2 and 3 that extend at rightangles to the rear wall and at an angle to each other. The side walls 2and 3 flare outwardly from a base or a bottom wall 4. FIGURE 2 shows theside walls of less width at their upper edges 2a and 3a than at theedges disposed adjacent to the base 4. The base has an integraldepending collar 5 and this collar slips over the top of the cylindricalbase A and may be secured to the barrel by Welding or any other suitablefastening means.

The hopper [carries a mastic scraping blade C of the shape shown inFIGURE .1 and this blade is spaced from the rear wall IV of the hopperby a spacing and bladesupporting block D. Bolts 6 extend through theblade C, the spacing block D and the rear wall 1 of the hopper B and areused for securing the blade C to the hopper B.

Any other suitable fastening means may be used for securing the blade tothe spacing block.

It will be noted that the outer edge 7 of the flexible scraping bladehas a length slightly less than the outer edge 10! of the rear wall -1.The side edges 8 and 9 of the blade are curved toward each other as theyextend away from the outer edge 7 and the sides terminate at an inneredge 10. The inner edge 10 parallels the outer edge 7 of the blade. Theportion of the blade extending beyond the spacing block D is free toflex when the tool is being used. A small front wall 16 has its loweredge contacting the front edge of the base 4 and has its ends secured tothe side walls 2 and 3.

Within the cylindrical barrel A, I mount a piston E and this piston isshown in dotted lines in its lowermost position in FIGURE 1 and indot-dash lines in an upper position in the same figure. In FIGURE 2 thepiston E is shown at the bottom of the barrel A and the barrel isprovided with an inner ring F at its lower end that will hold the pistonfrom being withdrawn from the barrel. The ring -F may be secured to thelower end of the barrel by screws 11 or any other suitable fasteningmeans.

At the top of the cylindrical barrel A the base plate 4 for the hopper Bhas an opening 4a that is slightly less in diameter than the innerdiameter of the cylindrical barrel A. Therefore the base member 4 willact as a stop for the piston E when the latter is moved by a piston rodG to the top of the cylindrical barrel A. In this manner the piston Ecan be moved the entire length of the barrel by the piston rod G, butthe piston cannot accidentally be moved out of the barrel A.

I provide a support for the free end '12 of the piston rod G when thepiston is at its lowermost position in the cylindrical barrel A. Thesupport comprises an elongated arm H that is secured to a pair ofcircular bands I by bolts :13. The circular bands I are secured to thelower end of the cylindrical barrel A and may be welded or otherwiseattached to the outer surface of the barrel. The arm H par allels thepiston rod G and the arm carries a piston rod retainer K at its outerend. FIGURE 1 shows the piston rod retainer provided with an opening 14for removably receiving the free end of the piston rod when the latteris in its lowermost position i.e. when the piston E is at the bottom ofits stroke and bears against the inner edge of the ring F.

Operation From the foregoing description of the various parts of thedevice, the operation thereof may be readily understood. The cylindricalbarrel A is about two and one half feet long and about two and one-halfinches in diameter although I do not wish to be confined to this exactmemurement. The purpose of the barrel is to receive mastic that has beenscraped from the joint L shown in FIGURE 3 and the mastic thus scrapedwill be guided into the hopper B by the blade C and then will passthrough the opening 4a in the bottom wall 4 of the hopper and into thebarrel A. The capacity of the barrel is sufficient to hold a quantity ofmastic that is scraped from a joint and the lineal footage that can becovered by the scraper is about two hundred and forty feet before thebarrel A is filled and needs emptying. Again I do not wish to beconfined to any exact number of feet of mastic that may be scrapedbefore the barrel A will be filled with mastic because this will varyaccording to the amount of excess mastic removed and the capacity of thebarrel. The advantage of the device over the usual band trowel is thatthe operator can use it for a considerable period of time and will notbe subjected to the annoyance of having the scraped off mastic fallingonto his hands or face or splattering upon the floor where it will haveto be subsequently removed. Also the operator will not have to stopevery few feet to remove the mastic from the blade which would be trueif only a. hand trowel were used.

The spacing of the blade C from the rear wall '1 ot the hopper providesa unique passage between the blade and rear wall for receiving andguiding any removed mastic into the lower part of the hopper where itwill pass through the opening 4:: and into the barrel interior. It willfurther be seen that the spacing of the side walls 2 and 3 of the hopperB from the side edges 8 and 9' of the blade C will provide passagesbetween these walls and the adjacent blade edges for receiving excessmastic and for guiding it into the barrel A.

The barrel A is made about two and one-half feet long and then thesupporting rod H is connected to the barrel and will extendsubstantially two and one-half feet beyond the lower end of the barrelso that the combined lengths of the barrel and arm H will givesufiicient overall length to the tool so that the operator may grasp thetool while standing on the floor and bring the scraping blade C intocontact with the joint mastic L that is on the ceiling. This will permitthe device to be used in rooms having ceilings eight to eleven feet inheight above the floors. If the usual hand trowel were used instead ofmy tool, the operator would have to use scaffolding on which to stand.The cost of the scaffolding and the time required to erect it and tomove it from place to place adds considerably to the cost of theoperation.

FIGURE 3 shows the barrel A inclined slightly from the vertical so thatthe blade C will contact with the joint mastic L at an angle which willpermit the operator to scrape excess mastic from the joint. The arrows15 shown in FIGURE 3 indicate the flow of excess mastic that has beenscraped from the mastic layer L and is flowing into the cylindricalbarrel A. During the operation of the tool, the free end 12 of thepiston rod G will be received in the opening 14- provided in the pistonrod retainer K. Therefore the piston rod G will be held in parallelrelation with the arm H. The operator may grasp the barrel A with onehand and he may grasp the arm 'H or the aim and the piston rod G withthe other hand. It is easy for the operator to grasp the device at aplace along the barrel A and along the arm H which will permit him tomove the blade C into contact with the joint mastic L that has beenapplied to the ceiling of the room.

When the barrel A becomes filled with mastic or if at any time theoperator desires to empty the barrel of mastic, the operator can graspthe piston rod G and move the piston rod into the barrel for causing thepiston E to move toward the opening 4a and expel the masticthe-rethrough. During this movement the end 12 of the piston rod willfirst be removed from the opening 14 in the piston rod retainer K andthen the piston rod moved for moving the piston E. The hopper B can beplaced over a bucket or any other kind of container that is to receivethe mastic ejected from the barrel A by the movement of the piston E.After the mastic has been emptied from the barrel the tool can be usedagain.

Modified Form of the T col -In a modified form of the tool shown inFIGURES 4 and 5, the barrel A, the hopper B, the scraper blade C and thespacer D are all identical to the form shown in FIGURES 1, 2 and 3 andtherefore similar letters and numerals will be given to correspondingparts. The arm H is not used in the modified form of the device and thejointed piston rod M takes the place of the rigid piston rod G. Thecylindrical barrel A may be made longer in the modified form of thedevice than is the barrel A in the form shown in FIGURES l to 3inclusive. The purpose of this is to provide 'a longer hand grip portionsince the arm H is not used in the modified form and furthermore thelonger barrel A can hold a greater quantity of mastic before the deviceneeds to be emptied.

The piston E is mounted on a short piston rod M and this short pistonrod is connected to the longer piston rod M by a coil spring connectorN. The tendency of the coil spring connector N is to assume a straightline when freed and therefore the connector will hold the piston rod Min axial alignment with the short piston rod portion M. The coil springconnector N will permit the piston rod M to be swung into a positionparalleling the axis of the cylindrical barrel A and lying outside ofthe barrel. A spring clamp P is secured to the outer surface of thecylindrical barrel A and removably receives the end of the piston rod Mwhen the latter is swung substantially through an arc of into theposition shown in FIGURE 4. The piston B will be at the bottom of thebarrel A when the piston rod M extendsalong the outer surface of thecylinder A. The operator can grasp the barrel A and use it as a handlefor moving the outer edge 7 of the blade C into contact with the jointon the ceiling. The device can be used in the same manner as thatexplained for the form of the device shown in FIGURES l, 2 and 3. Theportions M and M constitute a jointed piston rod.

When the operator wishes to empty the mastic from the barrel A, be freesthe piston rod M from the clamp P and the coil spring connection N willimmediately swing the piston rod M into alignment with the short pistonrod portion M. The operator can move the piston rod M into the barrel Aand this will move the piston E into the cylindrical barrel for forcingthe mastic through the opening 4a and into the hopper B, see FIGURE 5.The tool can be held in a position where the hopper B will deliver themastic into a bucket or other receptacle.

I claim:

l. A tool of the type described comprising:

(a) a cylindrical barrel open at each end;

(b) a hopper mounted at one end of the barrel and having an opening inits base communicating with the adjacent open end of the barrel;

(0) a flexible blade;

(d) meansfor supporting the blade so that its lower end is received inthe hopper and its outer end extends beyond the hopper; said meansspacing said blade from all of the inner surfaces of said hopper;

(e) a piston slidably mounted in the barrel and normally positioned inthe barrel at the end opposite to the end that has the hopper connectedthereto; and

(f) a piston rod connected to the piston for moving it through thebarrel for expelling mastic therefrom.

2. The combination as set forth in claim 1: and in which (a) piston rodsupporting means is connected to the cylindrical barrel and supports theouter end of the piston red when the piston is disposed at the end ofthe barrel opposite to the hopper;

(b) said piston rod supporting means constituting an extension to thebarrel which may be grasped by an operator When using the tool to embedtape in a layer of mastic on a ceiling.

3. The combination as set forth in claim 1: and in which (a) the hopperhas sides that flare outwardly from the base of the hopper and arespaced from the adjacent edges of the blade; and

(b) the hopper has a rear Wall that is spaced from the blade and liesparallel thereto;

(0) whereby the rear Wall and the flared sides of the hopper are spacedfrom said blade to provide a hopper Whose inner surfaces will receivematerial removed by said blade and will deliver this material to saidbarrel.

4. The combination as set forth in claim 1: and in which (a) an arm issecured to the barrel and extends beyond the barrel end furthest removedfirom the hopper;

(b) said arm paralleling the axis of the barrel and paralleling the axisor" the piston rod; and

(c) a piston rod retainer carried by the free end of the arm and havingan opening therein for receiving the outer end of the piston rod 5. Thecombination as set forth in claim 1: and in which (a) the piston rod isin two parts a short part and a long part, with a coil springintenconnecting the parts;

(b) the short part of the piston rod being connected to the piston, andthe long part being swingable into a arallel arrangement with the outersurface of the barrel when the piston is at the end of the barrelfurthest removed from the hopper; and

(c) a clamp on the barrel for receiving the end of the long part of thepiston rod.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,101,541 Harrington June 30', 1914 2,146,317 Steinhilber Feb. 7, 1939FOREIGN PATENTS 23,924 Great Britain of 1914

1. A TOOL OF THE TYPE DESCRIBED COMPRISING: (A) A CYLINDRICAL BARRELOPEN AT EACH END; (B) A HOPPER MOUNTED AT ONE END OF THE BARREL ANDHAVING AN OPENING IN ITS BASE COMMUNICATING WITH THE ADJACENT OPEN ENDOF THE BARREL; (C) A FLEXIBLE BLADE; (D) MEANS FOR SUPPORTING THE BLADESO THAT ITS LOWER END IS RECEIVED IN THE HOPPER AND ITS OUTER END